1550-1650 AD. An Elizabethan or slightly later cylindrical copper-alloy keyless letterbination padlockposed of: four discs originally rotatable by hand ing a pin-tumbler mechanism together with one fixed disc, mounted on an axle with trapezoidal cross-section and two circular arms, joined by a bow shackle above; four of the inner discs each bearing six unevenly spaced letters, numbers or symbols in punched letter type, the outer two arms of the lock bearing five; from top to bottom and left to right, the discs read: 'Left frame: RS3+O / disc 1: FC+3FO / disc 2: KVSBFX / disc 3: GDISME / disc 4: YDLNQM / disc 5: [blank] / right frame: ASI+F'; the lock is currently in the closed position and reads 'OXEN' directly beneath the shackle, indicating that a second word is required to release it, possibly a five letter word with the first letter being one on the left hand fixed frame. Cf. The Portable Antiquities Scheme, record id. PUBLIC-3BA66D, for similar; cf. British Meum, M&ME 1992,0410.1, which opens to 'MARCI' and was possibly produced in the Netherlands. Portable Antiquities Scheme, record id.SF-8892, for this padlock; cf. Gaimster, D. FSA The Archaeology of personal security: Metal-Detector Finds of Early Modern Letterbination Padlocks, in The Antiquaries Journal, 85, 2005, pp.374-81. 35.4 grams, 32mm high (1 1/4"). Found whilst searching with a metal detector near Eyke, Suffolk, UK, by Roger Fletcher on Friday 1st March 2002. Apanied by a copy of the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report number SF-8892 (electronic and original paper version"). Apanied by a copy of the white paper By David Gaimster, FSA, where this object has been drawn and published. The password to open the lock is probably ROBIN. The BM's entry records that 'Jon Millingtonments on 19 September 2008 that Buteo's Logistica, Lyon 1559, in BL, depicts an identical lock.' The seriffed Roman capitals punched into the lock on offer here areparable to those ed in the printed books of the early-mid 17th century AD. The discovery of multiple similar examples could suggest amon manufacturer. Alternatively, the producer may have sold blanks to traders who then personalised the locks to suit a buyer. The production of such locks reflects the growing need for the protection of personal goods in this period. Early modern Europe became increasingly lawless, with forcible entry constituting around a quarter of recorded crime in late medieval Britain, while the proliferation of lockable chests and other containers reflects attempts to protect personal portable possessions from theft, with a growth in the sophistication of key and lock manufacture from the 16th century onwards.